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Hello All,
I feel like this is kind of a stupid question and almost mulling over stupid details but I will ask nevertheless. In about a week I'm going to do a waterpump one 96 5.8- it's not leaking but I think it's got a squeek to it that's pissing me off. So there is the typical Oreillys WP made by Murray for $30 or you can get name brand ones like Gates or a Motorcraft for about $45 shipped. The motor is just a stock engine but I do want to use good parts. Any thoughts on some of these parts would be great. I used to just get stuff from the parts store and throw it on but I've just been really impressed with the longevity of the factory stuff.

Thx,
Natt

I replaced mine with Motorcraft. If it lasted 15+ years...

I would use Motorcraft.

What about thermostats? Any reason to not run one from a parts store? There's the Robert Shaw variety, NAPA premium, or Oreillys off the shelf??

Parts store thermostats have a decent track record but I still only use factory thermostats.

I prefer superstat or Napa premium as they call it now. Fail open is what I like about it.

Every time I used a damn fail safe they'd stick open. I stick with the motorcraft unit now.

I've never had a problem with flowkooler water pumps... http://www.flowkoolerwaterpumps.com/

robertcrav wrote:I've never had a problem with flowkooler water pumps... http://www.flowkoolerwaterpumps.com/

I use them, too. They do not seem to last any longer than the cheap parts store version. Failure mode is typically the seal starts to weep and takes out the bearings.

The Edelbrock Victor pumps are really nice and worth the extra money.

I have had a Eldelbrock water pump on my 302 since 1998 without any problems. I also have run the Napa Thermostat and I did have it fail once but it failed open and took a while to warm up on a cold winter day in San Diego.

I ended up just getting a NIB motorcraft pump off Ebay for about $45 shipped which is really a pretty good deal for a pump that would be going on a stock engine.

I had a great phone discussion with these folks the other day......https://www.meziere.com/ps-1202-1170-wp374s.aspx

I found that the stock Motorcraft aluminum pump on a supercharged 302 did a pretty dismal job of cooling, even with a massive radiator and twin electric cooling fans in an otherwise stock '89 Ford Mustang 5.0. The Victor Jr. on the otherhand...

It's not likely the water pump that did a bad job. Aside from garbage, cheapo pumps that have inferior impellers, cooling issues are almost always not the pump. Even the cheap pumps don't usually cause cooling problems.

What did Meziere have to say ? I like the idea but 600+ dollars is a lot of coin.....